Tag: book excerpts

Book Hooks

I had the great opportunity to read from the soon-to-be-published Sweet Love∼Bitter Fruit, book two in the Brothers in Law series.

The story features Marcus and Toni Kent from book one, My Way to You.

Marcus is a lawyer directing a non-profit and Toni a psychologist with an established practice. The couple is deeply in love, but infertility and a life full of distractions threaten to tear them apart.

I was thrilled to be able to share part of their story with readers and authors at the Black Muslim Authors event. I read from the chapter “Bedlam.” Marcus usually has everything together, but the women in his personal and professional life seem determined to drive him crazy.

In this scene, they all converge on him either in his office or on the phone to drive him nuts.

#MFRWHooks

#BookHooks

My Way to You

Simon braced himself on the balcony and released a gust of air from his burning lungs into the Harlem landscape. Marcus’s warning reached him loud and clear. Hands off his baby sister. Except, it was too late; Simon’s hands and everything else had already been all over every inch of Regina’s voluptuous brown body, and he didn’t have any intention of keeping them to himself and ending their torrid lovemaking. The only reason he wasn’t in her bed at that moment—touching and tasting every wondrous curve—was because she was way out on Long Island with her parents. Otherwise, he would be busy flouting his best friend’s veiled warning. Another night of passion was definitely worth the risk.

Simon crossed his arms and kicked the top of his shoe at imaginary rocks on the ground. Look, idiot. Marcus has been a great friend, and you’re going destroy your friendship because you like rolling around in the sheets with Regina? He’s going to kick your ass for touching his sister. Marcus was capable of taking a man down in seconds. Although no slouch in the fighting department, the last thing he wanted was to brawl with his best friend. “What am I going to do,” He asked the sky.

“I can dig that.” Smoke billowed from the grill as Marcus laid the steaks on the grate. “I just checked out the score. Knicks down by 10.” He poked at the meat.

“Of course, they are. I don’t know why you constantly hope they have a chance in hell of winning.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with having faith in people?” Marcus stabbed at the meat sizzling on the hot grill.

The two laughed and the tension dissipated. As fool hearty as it was, he couldn’t give up what he started with Regina or his friendship with Marcus. If things become more serious with Regina, I’ll let Marcus know about us. Preferably when he isn’t brandishing a pitchfork.

Lawyer Simon Young is smart, confident, and adept at keeping things with women casual—until he meets his best friend Marcus’s sister, Regina. Immediately intrigued by Regina’s beauty, Simon becomes increasingly enthralled and ultimately risks his friendship to have her for himself.

Social justice writer and activist Regina Kent is usually cautious and savvy. Yet, unable to resist her attraction to the handsome Simon, she plunges into a torrid affair, knowing that she chances angering big brother and her less tolerant followers, many of whom will not accept that one of their most popular pro-Black bloggers is dating an Asian man.

As their clandestine romance evolves, Simon and Regina fall deeper in love. Making sure that things stay between them becomes progressively impossible, and neither knows how much longer they can keep Marcus in the dark and the world at bay.

I love reading authors’ favorite lines from their books. Many authors take a lot of time and energy to draft particularly poignant prose (that alliteration is not an example), to grab readers’ attention and offer some inspiration, humor, humanity—a bunch of stuff.

I’m a little daunted to find some of my favorite lines from my book—singular…as in only one written so far—because I’ve spent so much time with my words. It’s difficult to step back and look at something I took so long to make cohesive and fluid as layers of individual components.